new glass mugs for SKIP

We had some glass mugs in the past:









All of those mugs are pretty much gone.  I think we have two left that we use in the bootcamp.

And now we are exploring getting some that talk about SKIP.  And the price drops a lot if you get a lot.  But the shipping costs are brutal.  $20 to ship a mug in the US.   And still $20 to ship 2 mugs.  Ug.

I'm fishing to guage what the interest level would be in me getting mugs.  They would be the same glass mug, but there would be SKIP stuff written on the mugs.

I like mugs.  I like skip.
Mugs are more awesome than wearable stuff because coffee!

Tempting.  But I'm in Canada, so shipping will be much higher which is a barrier.  

I'm guessing you looked into print on demand and saw that the profit margin is too small to be worth the bother.  A large print run is probably more economical.

Most American sellers I know use Pirate Ship to ship internationally and to Canada.  I don't know who they are but the scuttlebutt is that the savings are huge.  

Where is the print on demand for glass mugs like this?

paul wheaton wrote:Where is the print on demand for glass mugs like this?

I never looked into it so I don't know.  I saw some in a mall once, but that was over 10 years ago.  

Google says there are a few, but it's time-consuming wading through their results as google wants to ignore the "glass" part of "glass mug print on demand"

I'm going to guess these sizes are all in American Imperial oz.

10oz https://printedmint.com/collections/drinkware/products/glass-mug
11oz https://printedmint.com/collections/drinkware/products/mug-11oz-frosted
13oz https://www.printcanadastore.com/products/personalized-13oz-nordic-glass-mug
13 oz https://www.customink.com/products/drinkware/glassware/13-oz-clear-glass-coffee-mug/353500?iframer=lab

But like I said, it might not work for you money-wise.  Probably best to do what you usually do with a print run, but I haven't researched enough into this area to say one way or the other.  

looking at it closer, the print on demand isn't actually PoD.  There's a set-up fee for each print run which makes it unfriendly for printing one or two mugs.

This brings us back to your original plan.  

shipping seems to be your largest obstacle.  Looking at it from a Canadian point of view, shipping a mug across a country the size of the US for only $20USD is cheap!  I suspect your post office is subsidized as it must cost them more than that to actually transport the mug sized box.  

Are people interested in buying SKIP mugs?  The more interested, the lower the price per mug is.  

Paul,

one way of adding a design to a glass is to use some sort of natural dye like making a stained glass window

I donated a copy of skip to the local homeless shelter in my town hoping it will help poor people without farms to connect with landowners to farm

Mugs are a great idea, they make great Fathers Day gifts

Your mugs remind me of work I make which is that I’m a tulip poplar bark grower and I give glass jars of tulip poplar bark which makes delicious chai at farmers market
It’s also a good bark for mulch, carpentry work and other arts and crafts (wall art and jewelry making)

Thank you for all that you do to make the earth a happier place

Kristen

Hi again Paul,
In addition to going to farmers market with the tulip poplar bark,
it’s available through my art Etsy website:

www.etsy.com/shop/earthartathome

There are mason jars that have handles to be both jars and mugs. That’d be useful the glass mug idea. You could find mason jars with handles at a craft store.

I’d love to join my tulip poplar bark idea with your mug idea for us both to spread awareness about permaculture and to both earn money. When you talk to people about the mugs, please say that if they’re interested in buying tulip poplar bark to make chai with to go with the mugs, to let me know through the permies website.

Kristen

I'm not sure - are you saying you would like to buy a bunch of mugs?

I thought that you sold out of them and that before they were sold out that they were sold in the following way: 2 jars for twenty dollars (including shipping)
Do you have 2 mugs available?
If so, I’ll trade two jars of tulip poplar bark for two mugs as soon as I can
Have you heard of Vipassana meditation?

I'm fishing to gauge what the interest level would be in me getting mugs.  Should I order 20?  200?  If a lot of people want to buy mugs I can justify ordering more.

Shipping one or two mugs would be $20.  And that doesn't even take into account the cost of the mugs and the cost of getting them here.  

I can’t buy 20 or 200 of them but I’m hoping to help. By commenting with the post I am hoping to increase interest in the mugs before Fathers Day. Hopefully people will order them for Fathers day gifts.
Almost everyday for the past two months I’ve been adding tulip poplar bark that I grow to jars to give out. Learning about your mugs today is very similar to the work I do. If you have two mugs available, you could trade two to me for two jars of tulip poplar bark (because I’d love to receive them before Fathers Day to give as gifts). About the 20 or 200, 20 is good because glass isn’t as available a resource as wood and Father’s Day is soon (June 20th). Instead of ordering jars to be designed, I could design them for you and instead of it being mugs, I could get mason jars that have handles on them (that way they’re mugs and mason jars), and print the word “permaculture” on them. You could pay me $80 and i’d buy the mason jar mugs and print or (get printed) the word “permaculutre” on them, add tulip poplar bark to them, ship them to you and then you’d sell them for more. If I got a pack of 12 mason jars with handles for about $15, and paid about $10 for printing that’d be $25 i’d be spending. Then I’d ship them to you for about $15 (depending on where you live). That’d be about $40 for me to spend, but you would’ve paid me $80, so I’d be making $40. Then you’d sell the 12 mason jar mugs for $20 each, which would give you $240 and you might need to then spend money to ship them, which I guess is $20 to ship 2 jars which would cost $120, so you’d make $140.
As soon as possible please let me know what you think.

Vipassana meditation is a free meditation technique that the Buddha did and that people teach and enjoy. the website to learn more about it is www.dhamma.org

I'd be interested in 2.  Too bad that you don't have more of the other designs....getting a set of the different designs would be super compelling to me....like a Permies mug gift set!

I got two WEEDS mugs back in the day. One is still in use as a slightly cracked windowsill planter.

I miss those mugs for coffee like I miss the green-on-green WEEDS t-shirts, only one of which I have left.

I'm not sure I get what you'd be putting on the sides of the glass mugs to advertise SKIP. What would the content look like?

-CK

What will be on the mugs is changing as one of the designs made some problems for the printer.

*permaculture

Paul,
Sorry my post was so long
To summarize, if you want for me to design specific mason jar mugs let me know
Thank you,
Kristen

I'm thinking that Paul really likes the shape and style of the glass mugs in his first post. They look like they have really large handles, and since Paul's a tall guy, I'm thinking he probably has big hands and appreciates a large handle. Mason jar mugs have pretty small handles comparatively, and so probably wouldn't work out for him, I'm thinking.

It's very kind of you to offer!

I'm thinking that, no matter how things turn out, the mugs probably would never be able to make it anywhere useful in time for Father's Day. It sounds like the design needs to be hammered out, and then the mugs shipped to Montana, and then shipped to the people who ordered it. With Father's Day just 19 days away, I sadly don't think it'd work out

If anyone wants a mason jar (no handles) with tulip poplar bark in it let me know

You could make chai out of the tulip poplar bark and enjoy it in a mug from Paul

Have a good day

Too much story to tell.  The grand summary is that this is where we are right now.  With a bit of luck we are all done.  

The mug in this image is just to show the images.  The actual mug will be identical to past mugs.

If I get a LOT of these mugs, it would be $10 per mug plus $20 for US shipping for 1 or 2 mugs.  So I suspect that the only thing people will want is 2 mugs for $40.

Click on the thumbs up for this post if you would be buying 2 mugs for $40.

Oh great! Now I'm re-living those traumatic few years that I spent as a database programmer back in the 90s...

2 for 40$ 100% worth it if my hand can fit in the handle! My brother used to call my hands "meat hooks", I didn't realize what he was talking about until I started drinking coffee. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Also, I am in Canada too, so shipping is a thing.

Shipping outside the us will probably be something like $75 instead of $20.

For international shipping do shippers usually charge by weight/volume or is there flat rate? 75$ shipping for every 2 mugs or 75$ for as many mugs will fit safely in a box?

I am guessing.  I am thinking about the USPS flat rate box - international rates.

When will the Mugs be ready for purchase.  Ill take a six pack or maybe a few more

After all of that work....  all of their mugs were broken.  No mugs.